davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12

search of its moisture and life giving
manure and will grow off beautifully.
Cultivate as you do the other crop.
When you come to dig your potatoes,
and find no strings, but all, the tubers,
smooth, round and healthy, you will
say that this one article has been
worth to you more than five years
subscription to The PROGRESSIVE
FARMER, and you will thank us for
writing it. Try it and you will soon
be selling potatoes for seed at good
prices to those of your neighbors who
turn their noses up at s'book farming"
This is no ~"fanciful theory but it is
solid fact demonstrated by years of
successful experience. '"Try itAbe
convinced, and report. the result to
The PROGRESSIVE FARMER.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
THIS LOOKS LIKE BUSINESS.

The Texas Farmers Alliance evi.
IDENTIFY means business. At their re.
cent Cotton Congress which was in ses-
sion at Waco for one week and ad.
journed on the 7th instant, plans were
discussed to enter upon the manu-
facture of wagons, agricultural nipple.
ments, cotton presses oil mills, etc.
Over $50, 0OO,O 900 were represented.
Arrangements were made for collect
ing statistics, and to secure an early
charter under the laws of Texas. Fivs
hundred thousand dollars were SUB.
scribed for the erection of cotton mill,
and other manufacturing enterprises
will he stated right away. There we're
one hundred delegates present repre-.
senting the most progressive and sub
stantial planters and farmers in that
State. r
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
DO NOT LET YOUR SWEET PO.
TATOES DETERIORATE.

This may be prevented by saving
your seed potatoes from the product
of the zine instead of the slip, as is the
custom. In other words, if you have
the potato that suits you, do and not
wish it to "run out prepare a piece
of land and plant it in the vine, as
soon as they get long enough,
which should be about the lst to the
18th Of July. The quickest and safest
and therefore the most economical
plan, we have found to be the follow
ing.
When preparing your land to put
out your slips, save sufficient area to
make your seed potatoes. Break this
thoroughly. Lay off your rows, with
a seven-inch shovel or turn pillow run
ming twice in the same furrow, SO as
to get good depth and width. Fill the
furrow with wood mould, scrapings,
&C., and put a moderate quantity Of
wood ashes with it if you have them.
Cover this. with one furrow of a turn
pillow. Let it remain until your vines
from your slips get IA to 20 inches in
length. Now bed up your land. on
the manure. ; Don't wait for a. rain.
We have found it poor economy to
wait for a rain for transplanting any
thing. Put a half-bushel Of well
rotted stable manure in a barrel, with
a gallon of hen-house manure. Fill
with water, stirring occasionally for a
day or two. Fill the barrel with corn
cobs. .Let4them soak a day or two.
Now you are ready for work. Cut
your vines II to 16I inches in length,
chop a place in top Of bed witha small
hoe. Have the cobs in a handle basket.
Take the vine and wrap around the
cob FOR a half cob, once, bury the
cob horizontally, leaving out two eyes
Or joints, on each end of the vine.
They winneed no water and will rarely
wither no matter how, hot or how dry
the weather. The joints in contact
with the cob will quickly throw out
small sll rootlets. which will penetrate the
well filed i~nterstices Of the cob, in
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12

ards, his houses, fences, his crops and
the condition of his soils as to fertility.
AT a fair valuation you find the cash
value of his possessions to be say four
thousand dollars. Visit HIM two years
hence and the same thorough inspec-
ton reveals the fact that his posses.
sions are worth six thousand dollars,
and that, too, without any material ad-
vance in the market price of any
species of property. He has made a
gain of so per cent. in two years. He
perhaps has not had during that time
so much as two hundred dollars in
cash at any one time as the proceeds
of any one sale he has made. How
then he has grown and gained in
wealth? He is not a slave to the one
crop system and to heartless, inexor-
able, ruinous credit. His idea of true
progress and true living and true
riches on the farm is to increase the
value of his stock, to increase the value
of his lands, to increase the yield of
all his crops, to improve his orchards
and to increase the value and comforts
of his houses, barns, &C., and to spend
his money for these purposes. He is
not a speculator, and does not expect
nor need to have five hundred or a
thousand dollars in cash at the end of
the year. Hence, when he needed a
little money, to improve a house, to
buy a blooded calf or pig, or to under
drain a certain piece of land, or to buy
a mower, or to hire extra help in
emergencies, he sold hay, corn, wheat,
oats, a cow or calf or pig or fruit or
honey, butter, chickens, eggs, potatoes
and other vegetables, to meet the de-
mand. He has not gone wild over the
idea of making big money on one crop,
but makes his system of farming not
only sustain, but improve the farm,
and when he dies, he leaves his chill
dren-not a legacy of old fields and
gullies, and debt and mortgages and
liens, but a home improved and beau
tiful, and a farm of which they are
proud, and upon which they can live
independently.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
WHY GO TO LAW

If the subject of litigation werA
properly studied, and if it were pre-
sented in all it's phases in our farmers
clubs, and discussed, as it should be,
we cannot doubt that thousandg OF
dollars would be saved to our farmers
annually, to say nothing of the hatred
and feuds which are almost sure TO
follow lawsuits. Why should a mem
Der Of a farmers club go to law with
a brother member? ?. The members,
in a certain sense, are brethren. They
are acquainted with each other. It is
TO the interest Of every member to
preserve peace and harmony and good
will in the club, and in the comimu=
nifty. Suppose, as is too often The
case, you should fly to the courts b
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER, MAY r., 1887.

settle some trivial matter with your
neiehbor. What will it cost each or
both of you 2. Will you ever again
be friends !? Does it not frequently
cost ten times more than the amount
involved 2 Who gets it? Who de-
cides it? Do not twelve men have to
pass upon it? Who r these twelve
men 2 Are they better, friends OF
yours than your brethren of the club!
Will you be more apt to get justice at
their hands than among your neigh
bors and friends?
What a happy thing it would be, if
instead of going to court with mat
ters involving plain fact and the prin-
ciples of justice, the members of clubs
would agree to leave their decision
and adjustment to ajury Of their 6reh,
rem, where they would be nor apt to
get justice. Itawould be a good rule
to adopt in every club, that, before
going to- law with each other, there
should be an earnest, honest effort made
to haze the matter IN dispute ar6strated
inside the club. A large majority OF
the cases could thus be settled-money
and time saved and lifelong bitter
ness and hatred avoided.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
A ERROR,

Our farmers want to make money
too fast. They are too anxious to &C
cumulate fortunes. Our fathers moved
slowly and much more surely. We
are not content to begin where they
did and grow up by degrees, but we
want, to begin where they left off, and
rush on to a fortune. Hence the spirit
of speculation that seems to have fast
ened its treacherous grasp on our
Southern system of farming. Hence
the fatally delusive idea that for q
farmer to make money-to grow in
wealth-he must once a year be able
to sit down and count the silver or
greenbacks in actual cash. He must
make a "money crop"-tobacco or
cotton-at whatever cost, to crafty
this mistaken idea. Ask such a man
chow much did you make farming
last year ?" and his mind in~tuitively
runs back to calculate how much he
got for his crop Of tobacco or cotton.
He will answer by giving you the dol
lars paid him, when, alas !! in a major
ity of cases, he has spent one dollar
and fifty cents for every dollar he re-
ceived. But his idea is that to make
money, to get rich, he. must have the
product of his labor in the shape Of
actual dollars, that he can count and
handle and spend, Hence, to carry
out his idea, he subordinates every
crop and every interest on his farm
to the production of his money crop.
He buys on a credit, and at ruinous
prices, the crops and supplies that he
should produce at home-neglects his
stock and orchards and improvements
and wears out his lands, to meet the
inexorable demands of credit and to
pay the just penalty of hisfolly.
Take a farmer Of different type
one who believes that to make money
on the farm, it is not necessary to see
the result in actual dollars and cents.
Inspect his farm, his stock, his orch
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
~ y ~
FARMERS ORGANIZATIONS.

9'aDo any of us halt to realize the fact
that the Farmers Alliance could con.
troll the ballot of Texas With $50, 600
members ?-Wdsp IEgde RevaesU.
Yes, sir, the Alliance. realizes it,
but it's organizatioh being non-politi.
cal, has never shown it's vast power at
the ballot box It's entire organiza-
ton today is the strongest on the face
of the globe, and rapidly growing
Ie1ds Alliance Standard.
We confidently predict that when
the aggregate membership of the
various farmers organizations of this
country shall be summed up (as they
will be in their grand national meet.
ing in 1889 they will number not
less than three millions members. We
heartily endorse that feature in
the Farmers Alliance which looks
alt. ultimately to the blending Of all
these farmers organizations into one
grand national brotherhood. Then,
and not until then, may they reason
ably hope.tos beam aaposition where
they shall command that considers
ton for their rights and interests
which is due them. @
E+E.@taZ&# 80 81 MA@EFNg%#K M4 - #s@st~E &~%FF 80
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12

The PRoGREssIvE FARMER gives
some advice to the great convention
of farmers soon toNmeet in the South.
1t says 'if they viii exclude blow
hards, moss backs and political dema-
gogues, ect., they will achieve success.
That sounds like "a piece of history
written after the farmers convention
that met in Raleigh last winter. Ii
there were no emoss- backs, whatever
they may be) and 'blow-hards" and
"demagogues" present at those con.
ventions, we have but a faint idea OF
the meaning ofthese technical terms
There is no use to call names, every,
body who! heard the long-winded
speeches will remember that the "sure-
enough farmers had to take a back
seat.-1o6acco Plant.
"Long-winded speeches there
We're and plenty of them, but the
Plant will remember also that the
"sure-enough" farmers got there all
the same" They listened most respect
fully and treated their advisers WIN
every courtesy, but they voted anu
acted on their own best judgments a.
we hope they will do in the conVen,
ton at Atlanta. We very much douo'
whether the labored, "long-windea
speeches in the convention OF the zo'n
of January influenced the vote o.
single member. Still they had Lilo
patience and the good breeding TO en'
dure it with commendable: compoSul0.
The truth is the farmers of the coun'iy
are fast reaching. the conclusion 'na.
they will hereafter rely more on 'n0D
own udgments, and will act mor' w.
their ownsconvictionsl $40"
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
OUR ~PENITENTIARY.

The State Chronicle. has been looking
into the cost of our State Penitentiary,
and finds by examination of the books
of the State Treasurer that for twenty
years the cost foets up $l,sS9, $685.
nearly two milliopS dollars, and this
does not include a dollar received for
the work of conyicts. \
This institution has cost the tax
payers Of the State, to keep it up,
about half as much as the public
schools of the State.
It is needless to attempt to disguise
the fact that public sentiment in our
State is gradually shaping itself against
this institution. And from the stand
point of the taxpayer, this opposition
is as natural as it is just. The tax
payers built the penitentiary, they
keep it up; they build our court houses
and jails +; they serve as jurors and
witnesses they pay for the expensive
machinery by which our court system
is kept up for the prosecution and con-
viction Of the criminals, and it is
natural that they should be interested
in the policy by which it is managed.
1t is natural and right that they should
watch the results Of this vast expendi-
ture of their money. And when they
e the legislature actually giiving avay
the labor of the convicts, we should
not wonder that they are dissatisfied.
There will be a reckoning one of
these days, when these matters will be
duly considered, and when this out
rage on the rights of the taxpayers of
the State will be remedied.
To our mind, it is, and has been a
serious question, whether the peniten-
tiary, "taken all in ALL" has not been
a curse, rather than a blessing to the
State. If the taxpayers are wise, they
will hereafter know what are the views
on this matter of giving away convict
labor, of those who ask to be sent to the
Legislature. They will support no man
o men who will not pledge their
opposition to a policy which can be
sustained by no principle of economy
or justice. The views and interests of
the taxpayers of the State on this sub
ject have been ignored, disregarded
and trampled OF as long as they will
bear it. Hereafter they will demand
that they be represented and not
mssrepresented. The PRoGREssTRvE
FARMER speaks thus plainly because it
is a matter IN ii Which every farmer in.
the State is directly interested, and
because they are the ones who suffer
most from this system of legaized
plundering.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
PLEASE NOTICE.

In writing to this Office to change the
address of a paper, our subscribers will do
us a favor by ~statirg the Office at which
the paper is received, as well as the one
to which it is desired to be sent. Failure
to do this puts us to a great deal of trouble
and the necessity of going through a long
list of names, involving not only much
work, but much loss of time, when time
is valuable.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
THE o MARK.

The cross mark on your paper indicates
that the time for which you subscribed
has or is about to expire. 1t is to give
notice so your subscription may be re-
newed. If the subscription be not re-
newed, the name will be dropped from
the list, but we want every one to renew
and bring a friend along too.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
RALEIGH, N. c., MAY II, 1887.
ENDORSED BY THE CONVEN-
TON.

The following resolution was passed by
the Farmers Mass Convention in Raleigh,
January 26th, 1887:
ResozUed, That THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER, pub.
lished by L. L. Polk, Winston, N. c., be declared
the Official Organ of the North Carolina Farmers
Association, and that its Editor, L. L. Polk, be ad-
mitted to the privileges of the floor as an honorary
member of this Convention.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
.%-"~

H7We ask every Grange and Farm
ers' Club in the State to send us at once,
the number of members in the organiza-
ton, together with the name and post
Office address Of each officer.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
RosE-coLoRED SOUTHERN Pr
TURES:

The trade and manufacturing ;or.
nails are constantly dwelling upon H.
statements fact we may suppose
that the reported prosperity in tho
South is "solid." We may accent tbo
statement as true in so far as the man
ufacturing interests are concerned. bnt
not true rs to agriculture. The in
crease in manufactures is to a great
extent owing to the influx of Nortbern
capital. The men in the North Arc
always on the alert for investments
that they think will pay. They have
large extra capital and they are for
putting it where it will yield six per
cent. or more. It would be interesting
to know what proportion of the in.
crease in manufactures was from South.
ern capital and what from Northern
The Southern people are selling off
the land and woods and mines, but
the "big money will be made by those
who buy. The organs of trade and
manufactures are writing with exceed.
ing confidence about Southern bros.
perity, and if you will listen at them
you will find a most fourishing people,
They point to the increase in the bro.
duction Of cotton, and yet every South.
erm man of observation knows that
the cotton planters are by no means
as well off now as they were four
years after the war ended. The organs
of traffic and manufactures write
in glowing terms of small farms and
growing home supplies. This is laugh.
able. The truth is that thousands of
farmers look to the North for their
hay, bacon, pork, flour and meal.
There are thousands that buy their
butter, lard, vegetables and canned
goods. This is the fact but you will
not learn it from the manufacturing
organs.
The merchants, farmers and editors
are ready to laugh over the rose-painted
pictures of Southern progress in the
Baltimore Journal Of Commerce, Terti7e
Record and other similar publications.
The merchants knoaO that the farmers
are carrying a big load of debt, and
the farmers know it. WaUmanqton
| Star.
The above is so thoroughly in &C.
cord with the views so often expressed
in this paper, and is so full of TRUTH
unpleasant though it may be-that we
earnestly commend it to u people,
and especially to the calm considera-
ton of those journals which seem so
anxious to have a "big boom " for the
South. The Star has time and again
refuted the idea that we are entering
the golden r of glorious prosperity.
W. can see no permanent prosperity
for the South which is not based on a
healthful aid growing vitality in agrl-
culture, and we are gratiied to have
this view sustained by that staunch
and able journal, the Star. Let us
recognize the true situation and let us
tell<he plain truth about it, Itwould
@ infinitely better for all concerned
x -- &
The Labor enquirer., 1887-04-23
NATIONAL LABOR UNIONS.

BAKERs.-George Block, General Secretary
100 William street, New York.
BOILER MAKERs.-T. ]. Curran, President
227 Spring street, N. Y.
BooK-KEEPERs CLERKS included) Ton
0'Neill, General Secretary, 10S Hoy
street, Brooklyn. N, Y. !
BOTTLE BLOWERS eastern DivisiOn) If
S. TOmlin, President, 10 Third street
Brooklyn. N. Y.
Louis Arlington, President, Michigan
City, Indiana.
BREWERS (Journeymen).
BRIcKLAYERs AND STONEMAsONs.-Th
O'Dea, General Secretary, Box 1914
COhOeS, N. Y.
BRUSH MAKERs.-John A. L0nghead, Sec
retary-T Treasurer, Philadelphia, Penn
sylvania. III
CARPENTERS (Amalgamated). Hamil
ton, District Secretary, 81 W. Twenty
ninth street, N. Y. /
CARPENTERS Brotherhood). .-P. j. Nc
Guire, General Secretary, Box S4
Philadelphia, Pa.
CARPENTERS U. OIL. 81. Perry; District
,vn Secretary; e e a's s. Third street Brook
CIGAR MAKERs.-A. Strasser, President,
Fitch Institute, Buffalo, N. Y.
Coal MINERS (Amalgamated) .---George
Harris, President. 81 Glbb0n street,
COAL MINERS (NatIonal Federation} &c
Evans, General Secretary, New Straits
ENGINEERS (Amalgamated).z W. Nc.
Clelland, SS5 West Thirteenth street
NY. NJ
ENGINEERS locomotive. .-P. M. Arthur,
Chief, Cleveland, %.
Ensinssrs c[stationaryl.-G. G. Minor, Box
Federation Of Trades.-Samuel GOmpers,
President, S07 East Hundred and
Fourth street, N. Y.
Flremen lLoc0mOtive] Eugene VI. Debs,
General Secretary, 690 Main street,
Terre Haute, Ind.
Furniture Workers-H. Ehmrich, General
Secretary, $40 First avenue, MY.
Glass Workers Flint w. J. Smith, Presi-
dent 90 Diamond alley, Pittsbnrg, Pa.
Granite cutters.-J0siah B. Dyer, General
Secretary 1907 Market street, Phila-
Hatters [Finishersl.-D ]. Haggerty, Presi-
dent SO Pulaski street. Brooklyn, N. Y.
Hatters Makersl l.|George L. Gill, Presf.
dent, lo4, Walworth street. Brooklyn,
Hatters TSilkl.-w. s. Highly, General Sec.
retary, ia Broadway, N. Y.
Hatters Wooll.-A. NJ. Taylor, General Sec
retary. Metteawan, N. Y.
Horse Shoers0James Rafferty,. President, 4
Z. Jefferson street, Allegheny City,
Pa
international Wofkmen's Association.
Pacific Coast, 0o1< Market street. San
Francisco, CAL; Western States 1905
Larimer street. Denver. Colo.
International Working Peoples Association,
Chicago, Illinois. Z1
International Seamen's Association. 5[Sk
East street San Francisco, Cal,
Iron Molders-P. T. Fitzpatrick, President,
Iron and Steel Workers, fAmsle1matedl-
VIM. Weihe, President, 5ll SnifR6eld
street. Pittsburgh, PA.
Knights Of Lab0r-Frod Turner. G4nar.l
Secretary, Box - KhiladSlp6is, p.
The Labor enquirer., 1887-04-23
RATHER PECULIAR.

The Anti Coercion meeting held Mon.
day week at Hyde Park, London, by the
workers of England, was an immense af-
fair.
The Denver capitalist press said there
were $1,000 people present.
The Kansas City capitalist press made
the number $4,000.
The Chicago press gave them 10000.
The New York press grudgingly admits
that there were over 10000 people pres
ent.
The nearer home you get the less bold
and bare-faced the lie.
Honest men will support the Labor
press alone.
The Labor enquirer., 1887-04-23
I'm uaxvn YAaD vAnPlan.

Jay 0hosl = in Denver. he arrived on
Wednesday and proposes 70 establish here
ths terminus Of one Of bis roads; vhsrsai
shs fool people slap each other on the back
with Joy; they win weep with misery Of
the pocket before they are done With him
He came surrounded with guards and
Pinksrton's, and the ghosts Of the people
who have died because of his devilish
greed.
There were the ghosts Of the fve men,
the one woman and the ono child shot in
st. Louis by his minions, his "men Of
nerve and grit Who meant business"
There were the ghosts Of the thousands
starved 10 death through his manifold rob
berries.
There also was the spirit Of ZAvADALx,
the old surveyor, whose work GHouL COB
bled when seventeen years Of age and the
money for which gave him his start in his
'mouse trap" trick.
About this same Zavadale and what the
old hero,-for he is one of '4S in Austria
and II in San Francisco shall be
said In the future.
The Labor enquirer., 1887-04-23
A sPECK OF WAR.

During the second year of Arthur's ad-
ministration he issued proclamation
opening up large part of the winnebago
and Grow Indian reservation in Dakota to
settlement.
People aocked in and built up their lit
tie homes. Several hundred old soldiers
were among the settlers.
One of the first acts of Cleveland was to
rescind Arthur's act, but not before some
family had settled and improved nearly
every quarter section Of the grant.
Now comes an order from the govern
ment ordering soldiers to Immediately
evict these people from their homes.
This is the telegram:
PrEsax, April ls,-Company E, Eleventh
Infantry, marched thirty miles yesterday
and have entered the Winnebago reserva-
tion and will continue ON TO Big Bend
where the settlers have gathered. The cit
izens here are greatly excited and a large
party left this morning for the scene of the
action. The agent at Grow Greek this
morning autographed Colonel R. l. Dodge,
in command at Fort Sully, inquirinr
whether the troops had moved. He antici-
pated trouble, as the settlers are enraged
and have resolved that the government
must evict them by force.
Sheriff George W. Harris, Of Hughes
county, is now in the winnebago reserva-
tion, where he has resided since Arthur's
proclamation was issued. His removal
means the loss Of crops, cattle and horses.
Harris is an old pioneer, and one of the
most daring men on the frontier. Should
he say the word, the settlers would organ
ixe, take him as their leader, and fight it
ont even II every man is killed in the at
tempt to save his property. The little
band Of settlers feel that they are in the
right, and have the sympathy Of the peo-
pie. Couriers are expected hourly with
messages.
Before would be evicted from home
thus built up by my own hands would die
in my tracks.